Nishant Sabnis

Nicolet High School

Delegation: Indonesia

Model United Nations Position Paper: Ramification of Foreign Military Bases in Sovereign

States

In order to protect the economic and political security of the world, various countries

have established foreign military bases both inside and outside of conflict zones and during both

times of warfare and times of peace. Foreign military bases are used to maintain political security

as they help protect against civil political unrest as well as foreign state or independent terrorist

attacks. Foreign military bases help maintain economic security as they are used to guard against

foreign state or independent terrorist attacks which are potentially injurious to global

commerce.The Republic of Indonesia is working in collaboration with the United States and

other militarily developed states to develop security throughout its territory in the Indo-Pacific

Sunda Islands to protect the government and commerce of the region from attacks and conflict.

The ramification of foreign military bases in sovereign countries expands a countrys

international military, and therefore also its political and economic outreach which can be used to

control and/or assist the government and/or populace of another state. Indonesia is currently

working with the United States to maximize the security of the vulnerable archipelago. Indonesia

began its current effort of developing a Minimum Essential Force (MEF) in 2005 and plans to

complete its current effort in 2025. For the purposes of this effort, Indonesia is building a strong

national defense, known as Tentara Nasional Indonesia, which would be capable of and used for

various protection measures for both domestic and nondomestic problems. Such problems would

include peacekeeping, law enforcement, humanitarian support, emergency response, civil

conflicts, and security both terrestrial and maritime. Maritime security is most important for

Indonesia as it is both an archipelagic state and an Indo-Pacific state. This makes the state easily

vulnerable to conflict near the majority of its population and commercial centers which could

come from either the Pacific or Indian oceans. As an Indo-Pacific archipelago, Indonesia is also

economically crucial to the global economy. This is especially pressing in the early 21st century

when southern and eastern Asian countries are beginning to lead the world in economic and

industrial development, with growing imports and exports travelling through the Indo-Pacific

region. Indonesia is also improving its military power by cooperating with other countries to

improve its military technology. Recently, the Republic of Indonesia has begun a joint effort with

the Peoples Republic of China in the research of missiles. While the Republic of Indonesia does

support collaborative international security measures, it does not wish to align itself as a satellite

state to and global or regional superpowers. All these cooperative efforts involve the

ramification of bases into Indonesia to improve the archipelagos security.

The Republic of Indonesias future security improvement endeavours include building

cooperative alliances with other countries as well as building a strong national security force. By

2024, Indonesia will have an established minimum essential force to carry out the protection

measures described in the above paragraph. Part of this will include building up of military

facilities across the Sunda archipelago. Indonesia hopes that this force will help in international

cooperative protection efforts in addition to domestic protection, allowing the republic to

maintain its peaceful outlook on foreign policy. Also, the Republic of Indonesia is planning to

conduct future security improvement efforts with India, the strongest military power in the

Indian Ocean, China, the one of the strongest military powers in the pacific ocean, and others

such as Brazil.
 Through the first quarter of the 21st century, Indonesia is making great strides in

improving foreign military relations, building its own forces for security, and improving military

technology and facilities. Improved security measures will help protect the government

institutions and commerce of the Indo-Pacific region.